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8 DAYS OF HUNGER STRIKE - ACTIVISTS IN PETERSBURG PROTEST THE ARREST OF ARTIST ARTYOM LOSKUTOV

Written by Dmitry Vilensky

Sunday, 07 June 2009 23:12

On May 15, the young contemporary artist Artem Loskutov was arrestedin his native Novisibirsk and charged with possession of a narcoticsubstance (marijuana) by the local branch of the Interior Ministry'snotorious Center for Extremism Prevention (Center "E"). Loskutov andhis supporters claim that the police planted the marijuana in his bagin order to incriminate him. As one of the organizers of the annual"Monstration" -- a flash mob street party in which young people marchwith absurdist, non-political slogans -- Loskutov had long been anobjection of the Center's attentions. At a pre-trial custody hearingon May 20, it was revealed that the Center had been tapping the phonesof Loskutov and his friends for the past six months. In April and onMay Day itself, Loskutov had been summoned to the Center for"discussions," and his parents had been called and told that their sonwas a member of a dangerous sect. The circumstances of the case andthe way that he was arrested thus point to a campaign of intimidationdirected both at Loskutov and his fellow "monstrators" in Novosibirsk.

The Loskutov case has sparked a massive outcry in Russia's activistand art communities. In the past three weeks, artists, activists, andordinary concerned citizens all over Russia have carried out a seriesof pickets, protests, and actions in Loskutov's defense. The mostinspiring of these actions has been a "plein air" hunger strikeorganized by several young artists in Petersburg, now in its secondweek. The artists encamped themselves in a park next to city hall andbegan producing paintings and drawings whose central theme is theincreasingly brutal police repression of social activists andleft-wing artists in Russia. The hunger strikers have issued threedemands. First, they want a criminal investigation of the mass arrestsby riot police of a group of young anarchists on May Day in Petersburgdespite their having obtained official written permission to marchwith the other columns of demonstrators. Second, they call for thecreation of a public commission to monitor the work of Center "E."Finally, they ask that all charges against Artem Loskutov be droppedand that he be released.

Although the Loskutov case and the Petersburg hunger strike havebecome one of the hottest topics in the Russian blogosphere, there hasbeen a near-total blackout in the mainstream Russian press, especiallytelevision. That is why we ask you to read the article linked belowand learn how you can join our campaign of solidarity with Artem andhis artist comrades in Petersburg. We have called an international dayof solidarity actions for June 9, a day before Artem's next hearing inthe Novosibirsk Regional Court.